Into the Meataverse
I have some ex-Chicagoan family members who revel in each new Chicago transplant or inspired food establishment that opens up in their home base of Houston, and that came up as a topic of conversation multiple times during a recent trip down there. So Chicago cuisine was top of mind when I started to craft the menu for the kick off our 21st season of The Meatwave where the food, friends, and weather all delivered to make it another incredible cookout.
Over the winter I tried my hand at Chicago tavern-style pizza after Kenji published some articles and videos on the topic that piqued my interest. To be honest, I pretty much only get pizza at Pequod's when I'm in Chi-town, but I've become a big fan of thin crust bar pies, and tavern-style isn't far off from that. It's actually an even crispier crust that cooked up really well in my KettlePizza. In the oven here is a sausage and red onion pie.
Of course I needed a giardiniera pie, and I ended up doing both mild and hot versions. I had a strong preference for the hot variation where the briny crunch of the topping stood out even more with pockets of hot peppers to contrast against the plentiful cheese,
My brother-in-law is the most die-hard lover of Chicago Italian beef that I know, and his fondness for this dish is very infectious. I've had making it on my to-do list for a long time, and now that the day arrived to actually work on my own recipe, I had to make a choice—do something unique like a smoked Italian beef, or go for authenticity. I chose the later this time around and the sandwiches turned out nearly perfect with intensely juicy and flavorful meat in the right bread that could hold jus without breaking apart, plus the required green peppers and hot giardiniera.
I used this theme as an excuse to mail order a ton of Vienna Beef, which is my second favorite hot dog behind natural casing Nathan's. I'd already done the ubiquitous Chicago dogs before though, so I looked for something else very regional and came up with Depression Dogs. These were topped with a combo of sweet relish, yellow mustard, white onion, sport peppers, and French fries to form a hot dog that was more in tune to my taste buds than the standard Chicago dog.
Chicago food is delicious, but it's quite heavy, so I was looking for something on the lighter side to round out the menu. I decided to try out a grilled bell pepper salad that I dressed with a vinaigrette, pine nuts, burrata, and fresh basil in a nod to the psuedo-Italian things already in the lineup. This salad hit right for me with a strong sweetness cut by the tangy dressing and balanced out well by the extra-creamy cheese.
A Meatwave trend in recent years is almost everyone showing up for each cookout, which is great, but also a bit more exhausting on myself. This year we're making a switch from the usual Sunday event to Saturday, and I think that thinned the crowd just enough that the day felt more comfortably manageable to me, while still having a large and amazing group of folks joining in. Here with with Nick, Kaitlin, and Andrea.
Gathered around the remnants of what was once six pizzas are Christina, Kris, Chelsea, Chris, and Farrell.
We have Steve giving the big thumbs up with new Meatwaver Clair, Leslie, and Juliana who I caught mid-bite, but she still pulled off a smile like nothing awkward was happening.
And while I missed Betty at this get together, Mary and Josh brought along Ridge so we had some canine representation (along with the not pictured Trixie). And so we're official off on another run of The Meatwave and I look forward to all the good eats and great friends to come!
